September 4, 2012

Welcome back from your three-day weekend! That’s assuming you didn’t work all three days because you’re up against some arbitrary deadline. And if you did, maybe you’re thinking you really need a vacation. Today’s property is for you! Thanks very much to Burbed reader Dr. Jim for this superb bivouac in Big Sur!

The essence of Big Sur, an awesome opportunity, to own an amazing Big Sur retreat property. A private & serene location, on 2+ acres with dramatic vistas of the Pacific Ocean, along with the green and gold flowered hills of the rugged Big Sur Coast. This diamond in the rough, a terrific value, property being sold AS-IS. 2728 s. f. main house, is 75% complete, & a separate 480 s. f. cottage.

And here’s why Dr. Jim took the time to share this with you:

Just found your web site – love it!What’s going on with this one? The property history is bizarre.

Property history? What about the tiny little pictures that don’t show the 25% of the house that isn’t complete? Talk about an awesome opportunity… to take on someone else’s money pit!

But Dr. Jim is right. Head over to the Redfin link and check out that property history. We’d include it here, but it goes on for so long that we literally cannot copy it into one screenshot. Instead we’ll send you over there to have a scavenger hunt, where you have to find the not-an-arms-length transaction, the foreclosure, the sale at more than twice the above asking price, and count the exact number of times it went pending.

And then there’s this, back when the property was sold 9 years ago (for more than today’s asking price), when those plans for a “2800 SQ FT DREAM HOME MOSTLY FLAT” hadn’t been acted on yet.

PRIVACY, OCEAN AND CANYON VIEWS WITH THE COMFORT OF PAVED AND GATED ACCESS GARDENS BLOOM WITH FLOWERS ON 2.1 AC. APPROVED PLANS FOR 2800 SQ FT DREAM HOME MOSTLY FLAT. VIEWS OF THE OCEAN AND A NATIONAL PRESERVE WILL GUARANTEE YOU

Will guarantee you what? Argh, this is like reading a mystery and someone tore the last page out of the book! Maybe it’s “If you build it, the foreclosure will come.”

We looked hard at it. Monthly fees are $300 a month for road maint and water. Guest house is almost done. Road easements aren’t a big deal. But county requires new plans, new structural calls, new geotechnical report, and property must be brought up to current code; we guessed that’s 6 months and $50k. Also needs retaining walls, emergency water tanks, paths, grading, stairs, landscaping – perhaps $300k – $400k more. Then add $300k – $400k to finish the house. Will take more than a year to complete. Then add an allowance for surprises, carrying costs of the property, selling costs when you’re done…

You get the picture. Might work, might not. Lots of risk. We passed.

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and only represent the view of Burbed.com's editor. Comments are the views of commenters, not Burbed. If companies, properties, etc are mentioned on this blog, you should assume that I have a financial stake in them. Trust no one.